Raspberry Swirl Pound Cake with a Lemon Glaze



We recently had some work done in our kitchen and had to clean out our pantry.  It's amazing what you can find when you clean out a pantry.  I found lots of expired things which went in the trash, lots of "what was I thinking?!" ingredients that I know I'll never use, and I also found a few yummy treasures.  The best thing I found was a jar of raspberry jam.  Now this may not sound like some rare exotic food, but to me it's magical.

Raspberry jam takes me back to my childhood and sneaking a spoon for a sweet treat...oh so good.  I know I can get a jar at any grocery store, and we even have some in our refrigerator, but for some reason, finding that jar got my baking mind going.

I started thinking about what sorts of things I could make with the jam and came up with a pound cake.  It's getting cool in my neck of the woods and when that happens, my baking choices tend to veer towards nice, hefty cakes, cakes that fill you up and feed a big crowd.

This raspberry swirl pound cake is just that, rich and sweet, with a nice moist texture and that denseness that every pound cake should have.  You won't need a big slice of it to satisfy your sweet cravings.  It's also a crowd pleaser and feeds a lot of people.  

I added a lemon glaze to offset the sweetness of the cake and to make it a little bit fancier looking.  It's an optional addition, but it only takes about 5 minutes to do so I think it's worth it.

You'll find the recipe after some of the pictures.  If you give the recipe a try, I'd love to know what you think about it!


Ingredients

All the ingredients needed for the cake.
Layers of batter and jam

Layers of delicious raspberry jam and rich, thick batter ready for the oven!

 The finished cake!

The lemon glaze dresses this cake up and makes it perfect for a fancy occasion.


Unfortunately I forgot one important step when I made this cake.  I forgot to swirl the layers.  Amazingly, it made a few swirls during the baking process, but some of the jam did pool at the bottom of the pan (top of the cake).  It just added a big pocket of raspberry goodness which was delicious, but I think it would have looked nicer if I had remembered this step.

Raspberry Swirl Pound Cake with a Lemon Glaze Recipe

Ingredients

For the cake...
For the glaze...
Directions

For the cake...
  1. Preheat oven to 300°
  2. Prepare a large bundt pan by either greasing and flouring it, or spraying it with a baking cooking spray.  I prefer the latter method because the outside of the cake, once baked, looks much better.
  3. Place the jam in a small bowl and stir until consistency is more spreadable.  Set aside.
  4. In a medium bowl mix together the flour, cinnamon and baking powder.  Set aside.
  5. Beat butter and cream cheese at medium speed until smooth, about 3 minutes.  Scrape down sides of bowl and add salt and sugar.  Continue beating on medium-high for about 8 minutes.  Remember to scrape down the sides of the bowl from time to time.
  6. Turn the mixer setting to low and add eggs, one at a time and waiting until fully incorporated before adding the next one. 
  7. Add vanilla.
  8. Slowly add in the flour mixture and beat until smooth.
  9. Add about 1/3 of the batter to the prepared bundt pan.  Then add about 1/2 of the raspberry jam.  Add another 1/3 of the batter and then the rest of the jam.  Top with the remaining batter.
  10. Using a knife, carefully swirl the mixture.
  11. Bake about 1 1/2 hours or until a wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out cleanly.  Keep an eye on the cake after about 1 hour just to make sure it isn't getting too dark.  Different ovens cook at different temperatures.
  12. Remove from the oven and place onto a cooling rack.  After about 15 minutes carefully invert the cake onto the cooling rack and remove from the pan.  Cool completely.
For the glaze...
  1. In a medium bowl mix the powdered sugar and lemon juice until smooth.  If it's too thick, add a little bit of water to thin it and if it's too thick, add some powdered sugar to get the consistency desired.
  2. Drizzle over the cooled cake.





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